Tony Awards spur box offices on Broadway

NEW YORK (AP) — There were smiles at many Broadway box offices last week as a big financial bounce followed the Tony Awards, with the biggest winners being "Pippin," ''Matilda the Musical" and "Motown the Musical."

Data from The Broadway League on Monday indicates exposure and statuettes on the June 9 telecast helped many shows have their most profitable weeks ever and break some individual theater records.

"Kinky Boots," crowned with the best musical Tony, scored $62,775 more than the previous week to land at an eye-popping $1,474,349. "Motown the Musical" had its best week ever with $1,441,448 and set a new box office record at The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.

The hit-studded show, which didn't win a Tony but got valuable screen time with a great Michael Jackson medley, has grossed over $1 million every week since previews began March 11.

The circus-themed revival of "Pippin" made over $1 million for the first time after winning four awards, including best revival, best direction, best leading actress and best featured actress in a musical. It went from $931,349 in the week before the Tonys to $1,009,392 last week.

"Matilda the Musical," which lost the best musical Tony to "Kinky Boots," broke the house record at the Shubert Theatre en route to earning $1,184,104 over its eight performances ending Sunday. "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" got a decent $171,107 boost to end at $1,059,352. Bette Midler's show, "I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers," took in $854,203 without a single Tony win.

Virtually every show increased its box-office take, except for "Macbeth" and "Ann" and the existing Tony winners "Once," ''The Book of Mormon" and "Jersey Boys," though their losses were relatively small. "Wicked" pulled in a tremendous $1,849,045 while "The Book of Mormon" made $1,721,966 and "The Lion King" won the overall crown with $1,951,428.

As for plays, standing-room-only "Lucky Guy" with Tom Hanks made $6,000 more to earn $1,367,394 — thanks in part to the top ticket going for $348 — and best play winner "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" got a $101,25 boost to end at $654,304 — or 85 percent of the show's potential take.

There were a total of 11 Broadway shows of the 26 playing last week that earned over $1 million and the average ticket went for $108.

The Tony telecast itself earned a 20 percent bump this year. Neil Patrick Harris, who announced he will return to act on Broadway in the spring, returned as host and helped viewership jump to 7.24 million people.